Atlanta police, state authorities arrest 246 in massive sweep

By Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta police department arrested 246 people, including 100 convicted felons, in a massive sweep of so-called “hot spots” in the city, starting last week.

The department’s gang unit, auto theft task force and other specialized teams set up traffic safety check points and flooded high-crime areas in the city for seven days, starting Dec. 7, Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said.

Using electronic crime maps, officers went to areas that are high in auto thefts, burglaries and other crimes, for example, Campos said.

Officers worked with the authorities from the Georgia Department of Corrections and the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole to quickly arrest people who had violated their probation or parole, Campos said.

“We brought all these different discretionary units to bear,” Campos told the AJC. “Over the seven-day period, they brought all their expertise in, and that certainly that helps to laser focus our efforts.”

“The results of this partnership really speak for themselves,” said Atlanta Police Chief George Turner. “To remove that many felons off of Atlanta’s streets through a cooperative effort is remarkable."

The sweep was the APD’s response to a series of high-profile home invasions, burglaries and robberies in Atlanta last month, including the shooting death of a man in front of a Virginia Highland apartment on Nov. 22.

Crime, particularly property crime, also typically increases during the holidays, Campos said.

“So you couple that with the recent string of high-profile incidents, and we certainly wanted to make a concentrated effort to increase public safety on the streets,” he said.

Campos said investigators are not positive whether last week’s arrests helped them net the men responsible for those brazen robberies and other crimes but offered this:

“I can assure you our investigators are working overtime to investigate what we believe are a series of crimes, and we believe we’re making very good progress.”